Chinook Session IPA – All the Flavor with half the ABV

Session IPA’s are an interesting subset of the beer market. Your typical IPA would be at least 7% ABV and be hopped to reach 60+ IBU’s. Session IPA’s fall in the 4% to 6% range with an IBU range of around 40 to 50. I set out to create a recipe that was light but still had enough body to stand up against 40 IBU’s. I started with pilsner base malt and added enough crystal to reach an SRM of around 6.5.

Despite the issues I had with the mash reaching 160 F, this IPA turned out great. The higher mash temperature created body and head retention I had not expected. Certainly next time I will mash at the correct temperature. But I’m very happy with the end result here.